Maxim Matlakov Wins European Championship

Three players topped the devilishly strong European Individual Championships which took place May 31 through June 10 in Minsk, Belarus. GMs Maxim Matlakov, Baadur Jobava, and Vladimir Fedoseev each scored 8.5/11 though they did it in quite different ways. The victor on tiebreaks was Matlakov who is the 2017 European Chess Champion.

To make their way to the top of the field, they had to best 120 (!) other grandmasters including many current and erstwhile 2700s such as Peter Leko, David Navara, Etienne Bacrot, Evgeny Tomashevsky, Ruslan Ponomariov, Arkadij Naiditsch, Dmitry Andreikin and Dmitry Jakovenko.

What incentive could bring so many players out in force? The primary motivation was spots at the 2017 World Cup. 22 spots were up for grabs.

Two strong players—Jan-Krzysztof Duda (crossing 2700 just after turning 19) and Tomashevsky who qualified. | Photos: official site by Igor Klevko and Eteri Kublashvili.

Despite his 2700 rating at the still young age of 26, many may not know Matlakov's name, such is the chess-rich world we live in. Matlaokov's most important win was probably his round 10 defeat of GM David Howell who lead for a chunk of the tournament; however, his most fun enjoyable win had to be this fourth-round smash.

Jobava and Fedoseev each took more spectacular routes to the podium. Jobava lost in both rounds two and three before winning seven games in a row, an achievement affectionately named the Caruana after the same's 2014 Sinquefield Cup streak.

Jobava's second defeat to IM Alexey Sarana was quite dramatic and featured some really beautiful tactical ideas. Sarana was one of four victors in U18—the others were IMs Haik M. Martirosyan (with 7.5), and Aram Hakobyan, Kirill Shevchenko who with Sarana had 7 points.

U18 winners Martirosyan, Hakobyan, and Shevchenko. | Photos: official site by Igor Klevko and Eteri Kublashvili.

Two rounds later, Jobava won this game in which chaos reigned all across the board.

In the final round, Matlakov and Jobava drew a hard-fought game where Jobava had serious chances. | Photos: official site by Igor Klevko and Eteri Kublashvili.

Fedoseev's two consecutive losses came later on as he dropped both rounds five and six against GMs Daniel Fridman (after an enterprising sacrifice) and Levan Pantsulaia. He closed with five wins in a row, the most instructive of which was this nice rook endgame against GM Aleksandr Shimanov.

The women's champion was WGM Olga Girya (6.5/11) followed by IM Elisabeth Paehtz on the same scoreand Aleksandra Goryachkina. The senior champion was GM Zurab Sturua (7/11) followed by GMsMichael Godena and Ram Soffer (6/11).

Womens and Senior's prize winners. | Photos: official site by Igor Klevko and Eteri Kublashvili.

Final Standings | 7.5 Points And Up

Rk.

SNo

FED

Title

Name

Rtg

Pts.

Rp

rtg+/-

1

5

GM

Matlakov, Maxim

2714

8.5

2834

16.6

2

6

GM

Jobava, Baadur

2713

8.5

2745

6.6

3

14

GM

Fedoseev, Vladimir

2690

8.5

2797

14.7

4

79

GM

Fridman, Daniel

2605

8

2778

25.3

5

16

ECX

GM

Cheparinov, Ivan

2688

8

2783

13.4

6

28

GM

Motylev, Alexander

2665

8

2726

8.2

7

13

GM

Duda, Jan-Krzysztof

2693

8

2740

6.8

8

1

GM

Navara, David

2739

8

2682

-0.2

9

18

GM

Howell, David W L

2684

8

2754

10

10

38

GM

Kravtsiv, Martyn

2653

8

2702

6.6

11

22

GM

Areshchenko, Alexander

2677

8

2747

9.4

12

56

GM

Bluebaum, Matthias

2632

8

2675

6.2

13

33

GM

Grachev, Boris

2658

8

2713

7.3

14

130

GM

Kunin, Vitaly

2551

8

2675

19.1

15

87

GM

Bok, Benjamin

2598

7.5

2735

21

16

36

GM

Jones, Gawain C B

2654

7.5

2697

6.6

17

31

GM

Dubov, Daniil

2660

7.5

2699

6.2

18

11

GM

Bacrot, Etienne

2696

7.5

2750

6.8

19

72

GM

Melkumyan, Hrant

2613

7.5

2692

12.3

20

105

GM

Mastrovasilis, Dimitrios

2580

7.5

2709

22

21

45

GM

Zhigalko, Sergei

2643

7.5

2681

6.2

22

19

GM

Artemiev, Vladislav

2682

7.5

2705

3.8

23

10

GM

Rodshtein, Maxim

2698

7.5

2738

6.1

24

124

GM

Aleksandrov, Aleksej

2559

7.5

2703

23

25

12

GM

Tomashevsky, Evgeny

2696

7.5

2721

4.1

26

71

GM

Erdos, Viktor

2614

7.5

2693

12.3

27

52

GM

Kuzubov, Yuriy

2637

7.5

2715

12.2

28

47

GM

Lenic, Luka

2641

7.5

2671

4.9

29

32

GM

Riazantsev, Alexander

2659

7.5

2701

6.5

30

157

IM

Martirosyan, Haik M.

2516

7.5

2685

27.6

31

43

GM

Sutovsky, Emil

2646

7.5

2698

8.1

32

58

GM

Yilmaz, Mustafa

2630

7.5

2675

7.6

33

7

GM

Ponomariov, Ruslan

2712

7.5

2696

-1.6

34

89

GM

Ter-Sahakyan, Samvel

2598

7.5

2634

7.2

35

40

GM

Sargissian, Gabriel

2650

7.5

2657

1.9

36

20

GM

Movsesian, Sergei

2680

7.5

2676

0.5

37

35

GM

Berkes, Ferenc

2654

7.5

2673

3.5

38

210

IM

Hakobyan, Aram

2449

7.5

2607

26.5

World Cup qualifiers (pending ECU review) are in bold. Jobava, Navara, Cheparinov, Dubov, and Zhigalko had already claimed spots in 2016. Thanks to user @bangcpa for this correction!